Ernst von Mansfeld

Ernst von Mansfeld (1580-29 November 1626) was a mercenary commander who fought in the Thirty Years War.

Biography
The illegitimate son of a Saxon general who had prospered in the service of Spain, Mansfeld was a military adventurer by birth. As a Catholic, he gained his early military experience fighting for the Holy Roman Empire, but, in 1618, was recruited to defend the rebellious Protestants in Bohemia. Mansfeld's interest in the conflict was purely financial and he abandoned the Bohemians as soon as they ran out of cash. Yet prospective employers continued to find his ability to raise an army at low cost and short notice irresistible. He was once more employed by the German Protestants when the war shifted northward in 1622, before being invited to fight for the Dutch, then hard-pressed by Habsburg Spain. On his way to the Netherlands he was intercepted by a Spanish army at Fleurus, but broke through with heavy losses. The Dutch soon discovered how costly it was being helped by Mansfeld's rapacious and unruly army. His contract was terminated and, in 1624, he shifted to England. Regarded as a Protestant hero, Mansfeld received 55,000 pounds to raise an army with which to regain the Palatinate (a major German state).

Moving On
Mansfield assembled a large rabble that, on landing in Europe, mostly disintegrated through desertion and disease. However, he did enter the fray in 1626, but was defeated by Wallenstein at Dessau. Later that same year, Mansfeld abandoned the remnants of his army in Silesia and died en route to a new job in the service of Venice.